Ask HN: Are daily standups any useful?

[softwareman]

I will make a blanket statement:

I believe existence of daily standups in any organization shows lack of trust. If the timelines are clear and everyone knows what to deliver why have that distraction at all? Even if its just 15 mins.

What do you guys think?

[savethefuture]

From my own team experience, I believe they are benefitial for several reasons. Each person speaks about what their plans and goals are for the day, giving them some sort of responsibility to complete those tasks, it also gives us time to ask for help or advice with problems we are struggling to solve.

The time is also spent just talking, about our personal lives, company politics, current events, funny stories, anything.. it allows the team to connect on a deeper level than just our daily work. Compared to other teams in the company I do not see the same connection between team members as ours which I see as a result of not doing a stand up.

A standup should not be about trusting your coworkers or not, it should be about connecting with the team and understanding the team.

[softwareman]

Here is the catch in your statement:

"giving them some sort of responsibility to complete those tasks"

1) Why do you have to give this on a daily basis? Assuming everyone in your team is dedicated and responsible, then why.

2) asking for help and advice should not wait for the next standup. If someone is stuck, they should reach out for help right away than waiting for next standup.

[savethefuture]

We assign the tasks to ourselves. I meant it more as "this is what I'm going to get done today". If I don't get it done then I'll have to bring it up tomorrow and give an explanation of why, maybe I'm having problems that someone else might have solved but I do not know that, maybe its a large project and I just need more time, I'll still have to mention it. But it gives the other members insight into what, why, and how the task I am working on is going or if someone needs additional help.

And to your next point, we certainly do NOT wait till tomorrow, we reach out in our team chat if we need something and then can discuss further in person.

The stand up is not some strict rigid meeting where its the only time we talk. It is simply an additional small amount of time for the team to discuss whatever, along with what we're working on.

Another key point I did not mention above is the standup helps with those that struggling to speak publicly or just are not familiar with doing so, I have seen noticeable differences from members when we first started to now.

I'm not saying that the stand up is totally relevant and required, I'm sure we would work continue to work just the same without it, but it serves as a small interpersonal connection between members. For my team and I, the stand up works great, for other teams it doesn't.

If you really want to know, try it, or ask your team how they feel about it.

[vokep]

I think you're both right...A daily standup is absolutely a sign of "distrust", but I put it in quotes because it isn't as negative as usual distrust is, but I think technically that's an appropriate word. Its a level of distrust which is natural, in the same way that you ask people for things you want from them, rather than just "trusting" that they'll know. Sure, they might, but it makes it much easier on everyone when a communication is made. A daily standup is just a central time and place to communicate so that the real meaningful form of trust doesn't get damaged because of a lack of communication/miscommunication.

[risto1]

It's not a blanket statement, that's exactly what daily standups are for. It's a micromanagement tool because they don't trust their employees.

If you're stuck or blocked on something, you should talk to whoever you need to immediately. If you need to talk to someone, that's what the chat's for. If it's supposed to be a way for the team to bond, then it shouldn't have anything to do with status updates, talk about the weather instead.

It's so obviously a micromanagement tool, but sometimes you can piss on someone and they'll believe you when you say it's raining

[ethiclub]

>It's so obviously a micromanagement tool

Here's devil's advocate against that statement (although appreciate that in practice / 'on the ground' where you it might have been manipulated by management).

Let's imagine your daily standup, but without any management roles involved in the meeting (or any meeting debrief).

Is it valuable? A group of people getting together to:

- State their resolutions for the day. This provides accountability to the group and to the self (some people might value this opportunity to retain motivation). Further, if the goals are not aligned with the group, it is an opportunity for everyone to align.

- State where they are stuck. Perhaps this should have been caught before, but at least it's getting caught. And if no-one is stuck, no time is spent on it, and it's no skin off anyone's nose. But everyone goes away with peace of mind that everything is being 'pushed forward'.

If the tool is not misused or tainted by an authoritative culture, it could be valuable.